Television systems are available which include various types of on-screen guides to provide a viewer with information about available programs. Electronic program guides (EPG) provide information about currently telecast programs and programs to be broadcast in the future. An EPG includes program listings which provide time, channel, length, and title information for a program and may also provide a brief description of the content of the program in a separate portion of the screen. Many EPG systems have the capability to sort program listings by type, time, or viewer preferences.
Tape indexing systems for video cassette recorders (VCR) allow a viewer to identify a recorded program stored in the viewer's video tape library. Such systems also provide an on-screen directory of programs available on a loaded tape and can automatically scan through the video tape to the position of the desired program stored on the tape.
Some types of EPG and tape index guides include screens with a picture in picture (PIP) window for displaying moving, real time images or still images from a selected television program.
It is desirable to provide a television system which has both types of guides, i.e., an EPG and a tape index guide, and which facilitates navigation in a guide mode between the various guide screens and between the guide mode and a normal television viewing mode, in which a selected television program is viewed full screen.
It is also desirable to provide a viewer with the capability to control which program is displayed in the PIP window in the guide mode in the same manner the viewer would in the normal television viewing mode. This includes switching between tuned channels or between the outputs of the tuner and the VCR.